Remember How to Live
by highskulkiddie
Summary: Nightmarish memories, foster parents, hollow scarred souls, highschool...they can't decide what's worse! The guys must break the chains that bind them to their yesterday and rinse their hands from blood. Sucky summary..i know! Story's better
1. Default Chapter

Chapter One:  
  
//His heartbeat filled his ears, midst the screeching nine ones. Blood was gashing from his forehead and dribbled down his chin. White hot flames licked his ankles and smoke filled his lungs. He staggered to his feet, pain stinging his wrist. His eyes went wide as he plummeted from Wing's cockpit and kissed the mud with a sickening thud. A cold nuzzle was shoved against his temple. Muffled voices. His hand clawed wildly in the dirt for his gun. Too soon the leather clad hand squeezed down the tigger.//  
  
Heero's pen snapped under the pressure and he flung it across the room with a heartfelt curse. It was a total waste of time. It was useless! How the hell would it do him any good?! Writing them down each goddamn time was only making him relive the bad dreams he'd been having ever since the war ended. How dense could all those damn psychologists be not to understand that?! He threw the notebook in the bin and gulped down a swig of beer. He had never even considered the possibility of surviving the war. He had lived only to fight, the only essence of his existence. A discarded weapon, he could only wish that someday another war would come. And he'd fight. The peace was so fake, nerve wrecking. It was gnawing at his insides, making him sick. Then the dreams every night. So vivid, he knew that they'd be with him all his life, the afterimage of the battles, the war. Yes, the peace was indeed a result of war. And he was tired. So very tired of it.  
  
A knock on his closed door dragged him to earth. "Heero hon-nee! The school bus just went by! Do you want me to drive you to school?" Heero cringed at the fake sickeningly sweet voice of his foster mother. He crossed the room over to the door and yanked it open. He looked at her coldly. "Oh! Dear! You look tired! Haven't you slept well this night? Did you bang your head dear? Now now, go and get your backpack and we'll be there in no time!" Heero's hand clenched in a fist, side stepped her and walked down the hallway, headed for the door. This woman, how dare she call him dear and honey?! His stomach churned at the thought of spending another 5 minutes hearing her chattering happily about how wonderful the weather was. "I'll walk." He said in a flat voice, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. "But honey! Are you sure? It's your first day" The door slammed behind him. "...at school" Clara's voice trailed, wondering if the bandage wound expertly around Heero's right hand had anything to do with the shattered mirror in the bathroom, flecked with blood.  
  
Duo sat on the bottom step of the stair case that led to the school's main door. The whole place was swarming with other kids his age, all chattering gaily, carefree. His thoughts drifted to the various past schools that he had attended in between his missions, as he idly blew a bang out of his eyes. He pushed down his sunglasses and rolled up the sleeves of his dark red sweater. He hadn't expected that the sun would be so hot in September. His lips stretched in a lazy grin at the sight of a stunningly beautiful woman that strode briskly past him into the school. He decided that he would definitely enjoy himself here, judging by the amount of pretty high school girls. Duo's grin dropped the instant that he spotted Heero. He was loitering at the gates, standing aside from the student body. His dead eyes were ringed with dark circles. A bandage that had been wrapped around his right hand was starting to turn red. He had a tender purple bruise partially hidden by that messy hair, on his forehead. His hands were clenched in fists and his features were twisted in a scowl. The only thing that cheered Duo up was that he had seen Heero in much worse conditions then this. Duo jogged up to him and greeted his friend with the sunniest smile that he could muster.  
  
"Heero? Hey." Duo said, "You look like you're missing your soup! What's up buddy?" "I didn't sleep." Heero snapped as an answer. "How did you get that bruise? Didn't you put some ice on it man?! Why didn't you sleep? And what's with your hand? Did you go kicking..." "Duo. Shut. Up." "Touchy touchy." Heero glared at Duo, but his glare was lost on him. He kept on chattering about some hot teacher he had spotted, yada,yada,yada, as they made their way to the administration office. "Hey!! Heeeeeroooooo. Are you even listening to me?" "I stopped listening 5 minutes ago Maxwell." "I said that you might want me to look at that hand. The bandage is getting soaked." They had arrived at the office after a series of twists and turns and directions by bypassers. "Later." Said Heero his left hand on the door knob, with an expression that meant that there would be no later. "No you don't Heero!" Duo grabbed Heero's arm and dragged him to a nearby window. Heero was strong enough to break Duo's neck, bad mood he was in. But the genuine concern in Duo's eyes stopped him from committing homicide. "Now lemme just get this off." Said Duo as he loosened the bloody bandage. "Heero how did you....bloody hell!! You got a chunk of glass there! When did you clean this huh? When you were sleepwalking?!" He was angry at his carelessness, after all, Heero was quite the expert in wounds, considering the amount he had encountered during war. "I couldn't sleep." Duo regarded his friend seriously. He looked so tired, like a zombie more then ever. "Hey Heero...I'm your friend, right? So friends tell each other stuff. So what's wrong? The war is over but you look beat as ever." As he spoke he gently cleaned Heero's wound, removing the shard of glass and pulled out a fresh bandage and some gauze from his back pack. (yep, ya know...being an ex soldier and all, still careful...) "I...dreamt...the missions..." Heero muttered unintelligibly, his gaze fixed on the tiled floor. Duo was silent for a while, wrapping the bandage with care. He knew that Heero had been seeing doctors, with no results. The war had wounded them all, and he feared that it had done Heero more damage then any of them. His training had been very harsh. Duo's heart went out to him. "You can call me at night. You know, if you have a nightmare and feel like talking about it, I promise that I'll shut up and listen. Besides... you're not the only one ya know. I dreamt about Relena last week...god it was scary... she silly strung Deathscythe with pink...horrible!" Heero smiled slightly. He wondered when it was that Duo had become his friend. They'd been enemies, briefly, then allies... but he couldn't remember when Duo had become his friend. But that was beside the point, when was not important. "There you go Heero. Nice and bandaged! Am I good or am I good?" He grinned widely and glanced at the bruise questioningly. "No need. I put some ice earlier." Duo sauntered over and rapped on the administration office's door. "Come in" came a clipped female voice.  
  
Duo's jaw hit the floor when he recognized the woman he assumed was the head mistress. Her straight black hair was swept in a French braid, a pair of reading glasses was perched on her straight nose. Her bronze face (think tan) was carefully made up and she wore a crisp, neat navy business suit. She sat behind a maghony desk, with a wide window at her back, overlooking the sprawling green grounds of the school. "Good morning boys." She said coolly, gesturing to the two chairs for them to sit in. "'morning Ma'am." Said Duo with a wider then ever smile, as he sat down and pulled up the chair. Heero didn't recognize the woman as the one that Duo had described and drooled over earlier, since he hadn't been listening. His gaze fell on two portfolios on the desk in front of her, were he had spotted Duo's unmistakable face (photo). He assumed that the second one was his, and wandered what the doctors had written, whether their identity as ex pilots of Wing and Deathscythe had been kept a secret. "I have a notation that you two have changed a lot of schools in the past couple of years. High intellectual ability but a rather scattered education, excelling in sports. That will not be a problem I hope. It's understandable." Duo cast a side glance at Heero, his mind on Heero's previous thought. "But, I'm afraid that I will not tolerate any violent, disruptive behavior, Heero Yuy." Heero lifted his eyes from the portfolios and leveled his gaze to match hers, maybe 35 degrees colder. He decided that she could go to hell. "These are leaflets on the extracurricular activities offered at this prodigious school. I strongly suggest that you two sign in some kind of group. It will give you a good chance to socialize with the other students." Duo bit the insides of his cheeks to stop himself from laughing out loud. Yeah right. I can just see Heero Yuy socializing. God what a laugh!! He's more sociable with Leos in Wing, then with kids. "You can join your class now. 2C, second floor 3rd door on your left." She stood up to shake their hands. Heero stood up abruptly and walked out.  
  
Heero strode down the corridor and Duo followed, dragging his heels, towards their destination. They stopped infront of the classroom's door, 2c. Heero opened the door and a wave of yells, chattering and laughter assaulted his senses. Before he could step in a balled up paper smacked his cheek. Heero's cobalt eyes found the culprit and his glare dripped venom. The tanned guy's laughter faltered and a shiver crept down his spine. Never had he seen such a look of hatred. And if scowls could kill, his body would have been ripped open. The impression that Duo had of the classroom was that of carefully divided children with no greater worries than whether they'd done their HW or if the red tee made them look too pale. There were the pretty snotty cheerleaders in mini skirts and heavy makeup in one corner, and the cool, rich, and arrogant guys in the other. The front chairs were taken by the "nerdy" kids, thick glasses, poor clothing, who kept their gaze fixed on their books, for fear of meeting the other's sneers. He coughed when the smell of cigarettes reached his nose. He thore his gaze from the class when he heard a foully muttered curse from Heero whose scowl was dark, very dark; directed to a scrawny tanned kid, somewhere near shaking in his sneakers, who retreated quickly to his seat. Duo laughed in Heero's expanse. "Why Heero! That must have been the first time you were caught off guard! Maybe the Perfect Soldier is wearing off. Careful!" Duo said merrily. "Shut UP Duo." Heero approached a vacant seat at the very back of the classroom, admist the chaos. "Seat's taken kiddie" Said an arrogant voice. Heero lifted his eyes from the pair of baggy designer jeans to the dangling cigarette, mocking green eyes and gelled blonde hair. A silver tag reading 'Death' hung about his neck. This made Duo smirk. "You must have forgotten to stick the tag " piped up Duo. "Heh." Jacob smirked back, taking in his 2 new classmates. They were far from nerds, he saw. And they had the arrogance and gut of a member worthy of the much feared gang 'LEOS', named after the powerful mobile suits used in the war. "You must be the new kids. I heard that you stirred up rather some...disturbance in your last school." Heero ignored him, rather efficiently from the months of practice and endurance from Duo's chatter. "See here." Jacob snuffed his cigarette on the desk and leveled his eyes to the slighter Asian boy. "This very chair is of my property. And you can't sit. Unless you want me to break your teeth." Heero dropped his backpack on the very chair. Jacob looked pissed off. "I hate your guts" he slurred "But I'll make you an offer. I am the leader of the LEOS. We rule the school, and the Shibuya area. Everybody wants to be part of the gang, else they're losers. You will be judged. We can make your life miserable or" Heero's cold laughter stopped him short. Duo stepped aside to an empty desk a little further to enjoy the show.  
  
"Have no fear my lady! I'll protect you. Duo Maxwell at your service!" Duo grinned and gently led her a little further for fear that the pretty girl with ebony hair and light blue eyes he had set eyes upon would get involved in the fight. "Believe me. Blood will be spilled." He said mysteriously and plopped down at a desk. I should have brought some popcorn...  
  
Heero saw the fist coming but he didn't budge. He had been longing for some sort of action all along. Maybe not the battle fields, not missions, not training, not killing or demolition; but he needed to work his nerves. His head snapped back with the impact and dropped right back. A smothering silence fell in the classroom, followed by jeers of, what he assumed were, the guy's sidekicks. His fingers reached up to graze his jaw where he'd been socked. Jacob cracked his knuckles and opened his mouth to say something but the breath rushed out of his lungs and a searing pain thore him when Heero lashed out and punched him, hard. He staggered and fell back, clutching his stomach. A collective gasp (lacking Duo and Heero) could be heard. Jacob glared up at Heero and muttered something about how he'd kill him when he had the chance. Unfortunately for him, Heero heard him. Fortunately for him, someone interrupted.  
  
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"  
  
The booming voice startled the class and all eyes fell upon a man in his early thirties. "You!" pointing at Heero "Are in big trouble. And as for you Jacob, get on your feet." The teacher looked Heero up and down, not recognizing him as a student in his class. "What's your name?" "Heero Yuy." He said flatly. "I'll see you in staff room 3 after school. And it won't be for a picnic. Now get out of my class." He turned to the rest of the class. "In your places class! Take out the History books. And what are you still doing here? I thought I was clear enough, or have you gone dumb?" "We're new, sir! Yuy and I. And it was that guy" pointing at Jacob "who punched first." Piped up Duo before Heero could curse their teacher. "New students?" "Yes sir! My name is Duo Maxwell. Ms.Chilia sent us over, sir." "Very well, Duo. Being a new student would explain your ridiculously long hair, I assume. Tomorrow morning I will see you before class, without that braid." "But" said Duo frantically. "No buts. Either the hair goes, or I will speak with your parents about that. Talking about parents, that reminds me...Yuy, tell yours I'll come around to visit tomorrow. I think that a little chat will be useful. They need a few pointers on their son's education." Duo had absolutely no intention of cutting his yards long chestnut hair. It was too important for him, he had put up a huge protest when Quatre had told him to trim it a little. He hated hair dressers. No way they were going to touch his hair. The last person who had brushed out his hair was...  
  
Sister Helen...  
  
Everybody's eyes were on the new kids and Mr.Fenek. Duo bit his lower lip and looked at Heero sideways. His face had a 'who-do- you-think-you-are-to-speak-to-me-like-that'. "That won't be possible." Said Heero cooly.  
  
Jacob regarded his new nemesis. No one expect for himself ever stood up to Fenek. He was the kind of teacher that you daren't mess about with.  
  
"Well then. Make it the day after tomorrow. You're not going to get away with it so easily." "That's impossible." It dawned on Duo that it was possible that the nice couple that looked after him were keeping an eye on him, for Doctor G. "I'll give them a ring myself then." His eyes searched for two empty desks, which he soon spotted. "Sit over there. Reiya, get down from the windowsill. And loose that Discman unless you want to retrieve it from the administration."  
  
Heero and Duo sat down and the lesson started. Fenek rambled on, on the 1st world war, but Duo's thoughts were elsewhere. His eyes slid on Heero, writing with his left hand, although the other one had stopped bleeding by now.  
  
// That morning Duo realized that he had forgotten his jacket at Heero's place. Sometime after dinner, he set out to fetch it back. Clara had greeted him, hands floury, probably baking cookies. Duo jogged up the stairs to Heero's room, but before he got there, a noise caught his attention. The noise again, he recognized it as that of shattering glass, came from the bathroom, 2 doors away. "Heero? That you?" No reply came from behind the closed door. Eventually, Heero came out, his face a mask, hands shoved in his jeans pockets, and closed the door behind him. He stared at Duo.  
  
"It's in the kitchen."// 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: GWing not mine. Mikan, Jackob, Reiya and other guest appearances are mine.  
  
Chapter Two:  
  
Reiya shook her wild curly long hair free, it had corn yellow and chestnut sun bleached strands as well as the natural dark brown color.  
  
She plopped down on her unmade double four poster bed and tied the laces of her black sneakers. She walked over infront the full length mirror to check how she looked. She wore a pair of loose fitting black (designer) (hipster) jeans and a dark red halter neck with a low cut back. Her skin was pale, eyes the color of honeysuckle with thick brown lashes, a slightly turned up nose, and full lips. Some short bangs fell in her eyes, as it was cut in pieces, falling to the small of her back. She decided to wear it loose that day, despite Fenek's intolerance for long hair. She ran lightly down the stairs, tying two hand woven black leather bracelets on her left wrist, grabbed her backpack and slammed behind her the massive oak door of the huge old house she lived in.  
  
Glancing at her watch, she broke her easy walk into a sprint. 8:25am. Damn it! I'm going to be late!  
  
She pumped her legs harder. 5 more blocks!  
  
She rounded at the 2nd corner and too late did she see spot the unlucky guy infront of her for she run straight into him.  
  
Heero jumped up and in a milli second he lashed out his leg, sending the person sprawling with a thud in the street, his gun pressed to the temple of his attacker.  
  
"Aaaaa!!! Let go!" Reiya screamed at the top of her lungs. "Get off me you freak!"  
  
Heero realized with a start that it wasn't a foolish attempt of a mugger but a high school girl who had run into him. He put his gun back in his pocket, and realized her arm (which he'd twisted behind her back)  
  
Reiya scrambled up to her feet and whipped around to give the lunatic a piece of her mind.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG..." her throbbing anger deflected when her eyes fell on the hottest guy she'd ever seen wearing the most I-got-a-stick-up-my-ass dark scowl. His cobalt blue eyes where glaring daggers at her. "..with you!!!!"  
  
Heero muttered something foully about lunatics let loose on the streets and walked away.  
  
"HEY!!!! I HEARD THAT YOU FUCKIN" Once more she was cut short when she heard the school's bell first warning, and ran the remaining distance to school, Heero right up front.  
  
[in front of classroom] "HEY!! I'm talking to you!!! What the HELL did you do that for huh???!!!!" Reiya grabbed the guys arm who had stopped in front of her class. Heero turned around to face her.  
  
"Take your hand off." He said coldly.  
  
"GREAT!! YOU'RE NOT DEAF!! YOU CAN FUCKIN GLARE ME ALL YOU LIKE! Will you stop ignoring me!!!" Reiya stomped after Heero, who sat calmly at his desk. "Hey! I didn't know you were in my class! ANYWAY YOU'RE A GOD DAMN" Heero vein popped.  
  
"WILL YOU STOP YELLING ALREADY!!" Heero yelled in her face and looked about to say his lovely famous line. [do I need to write it?]  
  
"STOP YELLING?!!! STOP YELLING?!!!!!!!!! YOU POINTED A GUN AT MY HEAD AND YOU TELL ME TO STOP YELLING?!!! YOU COULD HAVE RUINED MY CLOTHES!!"  
  
"You ran me down." Said Heero flatly.  
  
Stormy cobalt blue eyes glared daggers in the enraged golden eyes. The air between them crackled with electricity.  
  
Reiya heaved a heavy sigh.  
  
Dammit!! If he weren't so cute I'd smash his pretty face on his desk!!!  
  
"ARGH!! I give up!" And with that she threw herself at her desk, right in front of Duo, and [surprise surprise] next to Heero.  
  
The class burst back in chatter once the yelling match was over.  
  
Duo who had been watching this...er...interaction with great interest prodded Heero's neck with a pencil. Heero growled.  
  
"What was that? Picked up a hot chick already?"  
  
Heero turned in his seat and snarled a 'Omae wo korosu'  
  
"Good morning to you too buddy! I missed you as well! Come give your Duo a hug! Here, I brought you a KitKat. I know it's your favour"  
  
"Duo" he growled.  
  
"Just kid~ding!" He grinned.  
  
[2 hours later in the middle of a very non interesting math lesson] "Psssssst." Duo hissed. "Hee~ro."  
  
"What?" Heero snapped.  
  
"Ask her her phone number. You're hot for her. I saw you lookin." Duo whispered in a stage whisper.  
  
No reply. Heero decided to ignore him. Duo kicked his shin. "Don't tell me you're shy."  
  
Heero's fingers twitched with the need to strangle Duo.  
  
Heero looked at the raven haired girl sitting next to him, from under the eye. She was doodling in the corner of her math book.  
  
"That's it for today class! Remember to bring back the test signed by one of your parents."  
  
Another teacher took over, Fenek.  
  
[For all of you who don't speak the Maltese language, this is an actual surname...it means rabbit]  
  
The low hum of whispering dropped and all students (well, nearly all) sat / stood to attention.  
  
His piercing gaze fell on Heero.  
  
"Good Morning class."  
  
"Good morning." Chorused the former.  
  
"Take out your notebooks. Today I'm giving a special assignment. Split up into groups of fours or fives."  
  
A chorus of protesting groans could be heard.  
  
"Hey! What's your name?" Reiya asked turning to face Heero, after speaking with Mikan, her friend.  
  
He glared at her, his ears still suffering minor damage from the previous yelling. "Heero Yuy."  
  
"Okay Heero Yuy. I'm Reiya Shinoda. This is Mikan Fujutsuki, the only sane person in this class. Would you like to join forces with us? Not that you have any other choice, unless you want to team up with the macho LEOS, giggling cheerleaders, or Einstein and Newton."  
  
"OFCOURSE he'd like to! Right Heero? Your name's Mikan right?" jumping in the conversation. "I've been wanting to talk to you."  
  
"Yeah?" Mikan [bin biong. Pretty girl from last chapter with black hair and light blue eyes] said. "About what?"  
  
"ExcuZE me for interrupting but is it settled?" Without waiting for an answer "Cool then! What do you say we meet at my house after school?" Reiya said enthusiastically. "Where do you live Duo?" "Fourth Avenue."  
  
"Good! That's not far out at all. I wonder what our topic will be."  
  
"I didn't agree to come." Said Heero. Why does she remind me so much of Duo? "But of course you'll come! Come on you can't say no to me!! Please please please say you'll come!!!" whined Reiya. She pouted cutely and looked at Heero with her large golden eyes, leaning closer to him till he was enveloped in the sweet scent of jasmine and a lock of hair touched his bare arm.  
  
"Hn"  
  
"YEAY!!" and settled down happily in her chair.  
  
"Okay then. That's four of us." Said Mikan, then she scowled. "God I hope Fenek doesn't get the brilliant idea of teaming Caprio with us again."  
  
Mikan was a pretty petite girl. Wide aquamarine eyes with long black lashes, a small pink mouth, straight nose and a heart shaped face. She was dressed in a soft denim skirt and a full sleeved white blouse. A lucky charm encircled her wrist. Mikan was normally well mannered and polite, but sometimes the handle did fly and she'd turn into a little back stabbing spitfire. She studied hard and was quite the school's whiz.  
  
"Who's Caprio?" asked Duo puzzled.  
  
"It's our pet name for dear Jacob." Replied Mikan with a slight smile.  
  
"Ya know, since he calls himself the leader of the LEOS, assuming that the name is short for Leonardo, the de' Caprio, or mabbe da' Vinci!" Said Reiya, busy drawing away an S.D. of Jacob. [super deformed ~S.D.]  
  
"Ohhh! And I thought that it stood for Lets Eat Our Shit or the like." Said Duo, raising his voice a little.  
  
Mikan laughed out loud at that.  
  
"No seriously, they're a kind of mobile dolls."  
  
"Really? I had heard about"  
  
Mikan stopped talking when she saw Fenek signaling for silence.  
  
"That's enough class. This assignment will make up 50% of your assessment, so I suggest you take it seriously. First group [Einstein and Newton] 1st world war, 2nd group [giggling cheerleaders] Cold war, 3rd group [Caprio] Golf War, 4th group [Yuy and Maxwell] 3rd war, 5th group 2nd world war..."  
  
Mikan looked slightly puzzled as Duo's flirtous smile was replaced by a frown.  
  
"...The deadline is on the 30th October." Reiya's hand shot up. "What is it Reiya?"  
  
"Do we have to make a presentation sir?"  
  
"Let's say that that would look good on your report card, but not compulsory." Reiya's hand shot up again. "Yes?"  
  
"Do we write the history of the war? Like dates and people and important battles and stuff. Or do we dig up the dirty stuff?"  
  
"Reiya. All wars are dirty."  
  
This time Duo's hand shot up.  
  
"Maxwell."  
  
"I think she means stuff like concentration camps, bribes and the like." "That is up to you I should think."  
  
Mikan's hand shot up next.  
  
"No Mikan."  
  
"But I haven't even asked yet." She protested.  
  
"No. I do not give you permission to browse reserved files."  
  
"Hmpf! Mr. Fenek has the most perspective ability as ever I see." She stuck out her tongue at his back.  
  
The kids attacked the teacher with whatever questions they could think off, actively saving themselves the pain of the weekly composition.  
  
Mikan heaved out a thick biology textbook and shut her locker door. A shadow fell on her, and the unmistakable scent of musk and cigarettes made her whirl around.  
  
Wow Mikan! You got it right on the first guess.  
  
She lifted her chin and aquamarine met emerald eyes. She sniffed daintily.  
  
"Look what the cat brought in." Mikan said, her eyes hardening.  
  
"Now now Fujutsuki. Shouldn't you be nicer to your ex?"  
  
"Shove it Verdana (surname)." She said between clenched teeth.  
  
"Have I ever told you how cute you look when you're angry, baby?" Jacob stepped forward, forcing Mikan with her back to the locker. He put both hands on the wall [lockers], trapping her. He looked down at her pretty frowning face, as he was a head taller then her.  
  
"Shrivel up Jacob. I don't have time for you." She didn't like being with her back against the wall. She tried to dodge his arm but he caught her and held her fast. "I only need a small favor babe."  
  
"I wouldn't help you if you were dying." She snarled.  
  
With that she shoved him off and was about to head out when she turned and gave him one last look.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Note: Hello hello. Yes yes...sucky chappie! See to what extent exams are brain damaging! I'll love you forever if you review! Thank u! 


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